Defensive end Logan Harrell downplayed his role in the Wednesday night discovery of a 19-year-old male hiker, one of two teens who'd been missing since Easter Sunday in Orange County. The second, an 18-year-old female, was found alive Thursday morning.

Harrell gained media attention after a report that he organized the search group believed to have found the man, Nicholas Cendoya of Costa Mesa.

"It kind of blew up pretty quickly," Harrell said.

While he didn't locate the missing hikers, one thing can't be reduced: Harrell tried.

After a Wednesday morning workout at Chargers Park, the second-year player and Laguna Niguel, Calif., native drove about an hour north and, with two others, spent more than four hours searching for Cendoya and Kyndall Jack at Trabuco Canyon. A friend who invited Harrell and that friend's brother made up the team.

The 23-year-old Harrell is familiar with the area; an alumnus of nearby Santa Margarita High, he's hiked and gone off-road trucking there.

Harrell and his group hiked up Holy Jim Falls, a popular 2.8-mile trail that leads to a waterfall. They hit the Main Divide Trail, taking them to the top of Saddleback Mountain.

"By the time we got to the top of that, it was already 6:45, 7 o'clock," Harrell said. "We didn't want to be out there past dark because they called the search at 7. We didn't want to be causing problems for authorities. If anything happened to us, they'd be out there looking for us."

As most search volunteers called it a night, Harrell says his group ran into a team of five or six volunteers. With flashlights in hand, they were just beginning, and Harrell's group stopped and gave them tips on the areas they already searched and those they hadn't.

Harrell, while not positive, suspects that group is the one to have found Cendova less than an hour later.

"I feel like our information at least helped," Harrell said. "That's what we are out there to do. That's what everyone was out there to do. ... The credit goes to the ones who ultimately found him — those volunteers and the fire and police department and everyone that was out there helping."